To the editor:

Calls for a “carbon tax” are misguided. If the goal is to reduce “carbon footprints,” then all products must be included. “Green energy” is not very green when the purchase/installation costs are barely paid for before expensive repair/replacement is needed. Manufacturing “green” products creates a carbon footprint that vastly outweighs the product’s carbon benefit.

Driven by ethanol mandates, marginal ground has been carved up to produce corn, increasing water pollution and destroying conservation habitat. Ethanol will only be slightly better than using gasoline in 2022, but the trade-offs in fertilizer use and fuel consumption will take 48 years to reach the break-even point in greenhouse gas emissions. Production of lithium-ion batteries for electric cars is not environmentally friendly. Factoring in the carbon cost of transmission facilities and production, “green energy” is not green at all. How do those costs in terms of carbon footprint stack up against coal, natural gas or petroleum?

And it’s been given special dispensation to damage and destroy the environment. Solar farms damage bird populations, and wind farms kill a good number of raptors with immunity. Where is the outcry from environmentalists? Silence. If an oil/gas company were causing the damage “the hue and cry” would be deafening. Just look at the Keystone Pipeline.

I, personal, like wind, solar and small-scale hydro, but I’m honest with myself about their real cost. How about the whole truth for once?